Moniepoint Spent Millions on BBNaija — Now It Says Nigerian Talent Isn’t Good Enough

Lagos, Nigeria—Tosin Eniolorunda, the Moniepoint CEO delivered a statement in front of an audience at The Platform Nigeria in Lagos on May 1, 2026, that swiftly went viral on all of the nation’s digital and business platforms.

The CEO of Moniepoint disclosed that his organization is unable to fill about 500 employment openings because Nigerian candidates do not fulfil the necessary international criteria. “Not only could we not find people at the quality and the quantity we needed, the few people that we found were not up to the global standards that we need,” he stated.

He went farther. He cited social media culture, the increase in online fraud, and the allure of fast-paced lifestyles as elements influencing Nigerian youth’s aspirations. “Environment shapes a lot of things, from what we consume on social media to the values shaping society,” he stated.

It’s a major worry. No responsible critic should completely ignore Nigeria’s talent development challenge. However, Eniolorunda created a path that had to be followed when he linked social media and superficial entertainment ideals to Nigeria’s young culture issue.

Because Moniepoint wrote the largest cheque of the season when she appeared on the stage of Big Brother Naija, the most popular reality entertainment program in Africa, in July 2023.

Let’s Go Back to 2023

Big Brother Naija Season 8: All Stars’ primary sponsor was Moniepoint. On July 17, 2023, the news was made at a press conference in Lagos. Moniepoint’s Head of Product Marketing, Chinedu Okpara, was excited and in attendance. “This is by far the largest show in Africa, and we are the largest fintech at the moment, which is why we are here,” he stated.

Industry estimates put the cost of the headline sponsorship at about $5 million; the company did not openly contest this number, a figure that was widely circulated.

Five million dollars. For a reality TV show that gave Nigerian youth almost 70 days of appointment viewing while roommates competed for ₦120 million and handled romantic entanglements.

BBN 

Let’s be clear about what BBNaija is. It is unabashedly entertaining. It has cultural significance. It stimulates dialogue. It provides young Nigerians with a cause to support. No one is claiming that Moniepoint’s sponsorship of it was illegal.

However, you cannot spend an estimated $5 million to place your logo on a show that the CEO now subtly links to Nigeria’s decline in youth values and then publicly bemoan the fact that the same young people aren’t competitive enough for your 500 job opportunities. It is a contradiction that has to be identified.

Moniepoint’s Argument at the Time

In an optimistic statement, Okpara described the BBNaija sponsorship as “primarily, what we hope to get out of this partnership is to power the dreams of Nigerian youth with Multichoice and a platform to bring our product and banking services to more people in Nigeria and Africa.“

fostering the aspirations of young Nigerians. The words were those. To be fair, brand awareness is a valid commercial tactic. Over 300 million people watch each episode of BBNaija, making it the most popular non-sporting event in Africa. It is hard to overlook such an audience if a financial company wants to become well-known. The logic of marketing is sound.

However, human capital logic and marketing logic are two different things, and Eniolorunda is implementing the latter in 2026. He claims that the mindset issue he observes in young Nigerian candidates is related to the entertainment culture that sites like BBNaija promote. He claims that Moniepoint’s inability to fill 500 positions is partially due to social media use and petty aspirations.

Moniepoint’s 2023 judgement merits examination if that reasoning is genuine. Because engineers are not produced by the program that Moniepoint paid millions to be associated with. It attracts followers. Additionally, there is nothing wrong with fans, but according to the CEO, his organization does not require them.

The Uncomfortable Analogy

The Chinese-backed rivals of Moniepoint, OPay and PalmPay, are not investing millions in BBNaija. They are constructing networks of agents. They are handling transactions. Over 50 million Nigerians had registered with OPay by the middle of 2025, and about 10 million of them were active every day. Between 2020 and 2023, PalmPay’s revenue increased by 31,850%.

Neither of those businesses has made an appearance at a news conference in Lagos against the backdrop of a reality program. While Nigerian fintechs were busy creating brand awareness on primetime television, they have been more operationally orientated, quieter, and leaner.

This is not to argue that a fintech should never support entertainment. It is important to be seen. In a nation where consumer confidence in digital finance is still developing, brand trust is important. At the time, the BBNaija play might be justified as a growth plan.

Participants from Moniepoint’s DreamDevs Bootcamp

However, the comparison is now based on Eniolorunda’s own remarks from 2026. He claims that young people in Nigeria lack discipline, focus, and technical proficiency. He claims that one aspect of the issue is the cultural setting. What Moniepoint did to create the talent pipeline it now claims does not exist, aside from supporting that cultural environment, is the question that quickly arises.

What Moniepoint Has and Hasn’t Done

To be fair, this column recognises Moniepoint’s actual contributions. The company promotes small businesses throughout Nigeria, handles billions of naira every day, and has purposefully chosen to hire only Nigerians. Its recent acquisition of Orda Africa, which enhanced its Moniebook platform with restaurant management solutions, demonstrates a business that is looking beyond payments to real economic infrastructure.

In response to Eniolorunda’s remarks, the Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics urged Moniepoint to play a more active role in talent development by growing internal training programs, fortifying ties with academic institutions, and establishing structured pathways for entry-level professionals. However, they did not completely discount his concerns. That’s a reasonable assessment.

However, there is currently no evidence of a tech training hub financed by Moniepoint. The size of the BBNaija headline sponsorship is unmatched by any publicly disclosed STEM scholarship program. The CEO claims he cannot find the engineers that Moniepoint Coding Academy is secretly generating. In the days after Eniolorunda’s remarks, a user on X named @DeNiike_ stated it simply: “Ask Tosin how many tech schools and STEM scholarships he sponsors, also check the figures in terms of monetary contributions.” No one has come up with a compelling response. The CEO himself has a STEM foundation to his name; however, it seems counterintuitive to say he still struggles to equip his company with talent when he could actually provide his foundation with the necessary world-class training that can fill in any role, anywhere in the world.

The Actual Debate

This is not a request to ‘cancel’ Moniepoint. It is an appeal to evaluate the argument on its merits.

If the CEO of Nigeria’s top indigenous fintech company feels that the country’s tech talent is being degraded by social media culture, shallow entertainment values, and get-rich-quick mentality, then the CEO’s company has an obligation that goes beyond merely bemoaning the issue at a conference. It must contribute to the solution in a manner commensurate with its financial resources.

A business can create a coding bootcamp if it can pay $5 million to have its logo appear on a reality TV show for 70 days. University relationships can be funded by it. It can design organised graduate development programs that generate the engineers it says it can’t find. It can begin funding and producing them instead of waiting for talent to emerge.

Nigeria’s potential was recognised by Eniolorunda himself. He urged investing in human capital, saying, “There are many alternatives to becoming a ‘big boy’ or chasing quick money in a country of over 200 million people.” He’s correct. However, a speech at The Platform is not the start or finish of investing in human capital. It starts with funding, initiatives, and institutional dedication—the same kind of dedication Moniepoint unhesitatingly displayed while BBNaija was filming.

The Big Brother house will not produce the talent Nigeria’s tech industry needs. It won’t ever. However, it may result from an industry-backed, well-funded talent development program run by the very businesses who say they most need it. The resources are at Moniepoint. Now, the question is whether it has the will.